Rebel drone bombs Yemen military parade, kills at least 6

Soldiers help a wounded comrade after a bomb-laden drone exploded at a southern airbase.

Soldiers help a wounded comrade after a bomb-laden drone exploded at a southern airbase.

Photo: Nabil Hasan / AFP / Getty Images

Photo: Nabil Hasan / AFP / Getty Images

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Soldiers help a wounded comrade after a bomb-laden drone exploded at a southern airbase.

Soldiers help a wounded comrade after a bomb-laden drone exploded at a southern airbase.

Photo: Nabil Hasan / AFP / Getty Images

Rebel drone bombs Yemen military parade, kills at least 6

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SANAA, Yemen — A bomb-laden drone launched by Yemen’s Shiite rebels exploded over a military parade for the Saudi-led coalition and its allies on Thursday near the southern port city of Aden, killing at least six people in a brazen attack that threatened U.N.-brokered peace efforts to end the years-long war tearing at the Arab world’s poorest nation.

The attack at the Al-Anad Air Base, where American special forces once led their fight against Yemen’s al Qaeda branch, targeted high-ranking military officials in Yemen’s internationally recognized government with what the rebel Houthis described as a new version of one of their drones.

The attack also raised new questions about Iran’s alleged role in arming the Houthis with drone and ballistic missile technology, something long denied by Tehran despite researchers and U.N. experts linking the Yemeni rebel weapons to the Islamic Republic.

“Once again this proves that the Houthi criminal militias are not ready for peace and that they are exploiting truces in order for deployment and reinforcements,” said Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani, who said two senior military officials were wounded in the attack.

The Houthis immediately claimed the attack through their al-Masirah satellite news channel.

Some 8,000 soldiers had been taking part in the parade, as well as two governors and a large number of top military commanders, including the chief of staff.

Yemen plunged into civil war in 2014 when the rebels captured Sanaa, the country’s capital. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015 as government forces looked poised to lose Aden to the Houthi advance. The U.S. supported the Saudi-led coalition for years despite its air strikes killing civilians.